cheap Li-poly chargers

malivoirec · Post by **malivoirec** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:50 pm

http://www.compositelabs.net/store/extras/ac/

Wondering with an adaptor weither these were any good or not for UK ant Li-polys.

Simon Windisch · Post by **Simon Windisch** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:50 pm

It sounds a bit dodgy.

The Basic Chargers will only work with tricellular li-poly packs at or under 6000mAh.

So will you be using three lipos in series? and 6000mAh is massive for an antweight. I use 130mAh.

I bought two ETC2020s from http://www.hobby-lobby.com/chargers_lipoly.htm and they're beautiful. They charge from 110 mA to 1200 mA

malivoirec · Post by **malivoirec** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:45 pm

Thanks for the advice but I would still prefer a cheap and simple to use charger that you can plug in to the mains that is all in one unit (Im a little new to the world of Li-pos and after seeing these videos i'm a little cagey about them too.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3o_2mwRPdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MiM2E6pvfg

Any suggestions?

Simon Windisch · Post by **Simon Windisch** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:12 am

You haven't told us how many LiPos you will be using in series and what capacity they will be mate.

Simon

leo-rcc · Post by **leo-rcc** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:04 am

The specs suggest to me that they are for 3 cell lipo's (11,1V) only. That does limit your options quite a bit. I would still recommend a proven charger like the apaches or T2M or Triton.

peterwaller · Post by **peterwaller** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:57 pm

It is a real pain having to take a bench power supply to events to power my home made charger so I decided to build a mains power supply for it so it could be incorporated in to a single unit. Being me I got a little carried away and added a digital panel meter to show the total current being drawn and a second that could be switched round to each output to show the battery voltage and hence charge state. Then becuase my 6 way charger didn't really fit the power supply I built a new 6 way charger. I simplified the patching by making 2 chargers 3 cell and 4 chargers 2 cell with patchig to set the charge current at 100, 300 or 500 ma. I also added charger outputs on flying leads for the standard and 2.4 Ghz transmitters to save taking yet another charger. One thing I realised is that because the two transmitters have the reverse polarity on the plugs there is a real danger of them shorting out so I have put a heat shrink sheath around them both.
The first picture shows the top view with the current patching and rotary switch for the voltage reading.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... CF0603.jpg
The second shot shows it charging a 3 and 2 cell pack with the switch set to the 3 cell.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n66/ ... CF0607.jpg
Not exactly a cheap or simple option

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:17 pm

peterwaller wrote:Not exactly a cheap or simple option

... and you really have to know what you're doing before you start trying to build mains-powered equipment yourself!

Post by **petec** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:01 pm

...it also helps to be retired with too much time on your hands